[Foreword]
I favor this book over the heartlessness of the people in it. I still love Three Kingdoms. Let the Phoenix burn.

[Afterword]
As a comic artist, I’m definitely a lucky outlier. Ever since I joined Tong Li, the company has never interfered in my creative process. The writing of “The Ravages of Time” was all over the place. I asked for countless extensions on a whim. It’s too profound for a mainstream audience. And sometimes I didn’t even know what the plot was until I turned it in… Despite all of that, the company still supported me without question. For ten years they’ve let me develop it to my content. I learned that there are even good judges of a fine “tortoise”. An offbeat comic series can still make it big!
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The Burning of Luoyang Arc
chapters 1-14
==========================(may be interesting to compare against the wikipedia entry on the timeline?)
page 398, Ravages’ Major Event Timeline

Yellow Turban Rebellion;He Jin became the Command-in-Chief;Huangfu Song won a major victory against the Yellow Turbans;
Cao Cao joined forces with Huangfu Song;Zhang Jue, the leader of the Yellow Turban rebels, died from illness;
the main forces of the Yellow Turbans was defeated

Sima Fang‘s second son Sima Yi became the head of their household;
Sima Yi tasked Liaoyuan Huo to infiltrate Xu Lin’s subordinate Zhao Xian’s family, who adopted Liaoyuan Huo as a foster son;
Liu Hong, the Emperor Ling passed away from illness, succeeded by prince Liu Bian with the regency controlled by queen He and Commander-in-Chief He Jin

first of Guangxi

Commander-in-Chief He Jin was killed

Zhang Rang and his Eunuch faction killed He Jin, and over two thousand eunuchs were later killed because of it(possible typo in the book, which said the executor was “Yuan Shao”, should be “Dong Zhuo”)

first of Zhaoning

Dong Zhuo deposed Liu Bian and promoted Liu Xie to the throne

Dong Zhuo demoted Liu Bian to Prince of Hongnong, and promoted Prince of Chenliu Liu Xie as the Emperor

first of Yonghan

Dong Zhuo occupied Luoyang

Dong Zhuo became Grand Marshal/Commandant and General of the Vanfuard, then promoted Yang Biao to be the Minister of Works

sixth of Zhongping

Dong Zhuo became Chancellor of State

Dong Zhuo made himself Chancellor and controlled the government

190

first of Chuping

Guandong Army waged war against Dong;
Dong Zhuo moved the capital city;
Dong Zhuo ordered Lü Bu to dig up the graves of past Emperors;
Dong Zhuo executed the Grand Tutor Yuan Wei;
Administrator Liu Yu of Youzhou became the Grand Tutor;
Dong Zhuo appointed Liu Biao as the Governor of Jingzhou;
Minister of Works Xun Shuang passed away;Gongsun Du declared himself Marquis of Liaodong

Revolts against Dong Zhuo broke out across the provinces and they elected Yuan Shao as the commander in chief;
relatives of the Guandong Alliance members living in Luoyang were held hostage by Dong Zhuo;
Xu Lin went to Yanzhou to collect military funding from the wealthy merchants, was then killed by the Handicapped Warriors;
Liu Bei pillaged the city of Jingyang in the name of Dong Zhuo, then used those funds to help the victimized civilians at Huyang;
Sima Yi tasked the Handicapped Warriors to rescue his older brother Sima Lang from the clutches of Dong Zhuo;
the Guandong Alliance marched on Luoyang, but they fell into a stalemate against Dong Zhuo’s foster son Lü Bu;
Yuan Fang commanded Guandong army’s elites to carry out the hostage-rescue mission inside the city of Luoyang;
Lü Bu found the insider Yuan Tai within his ranks and killed him in one move

* Night, palace. Grand Tutor laying on the bed, surrounded by officials. He looks frail.
* Grand Tutor dictates affairs of the kingdom in an orderly fashion. His two sons stands at his left; the young emperor sits at his right.
* Grand Tutor’s hand never leaves the emperor’s shoulder, who is frightened. Grand Tutor tells his sons, “Support this boy after my death.” They reply, “Certainly!” The emperor is hurting because of Grand Tutor’s tightening grip, but he is afraid to cry.
* Lanterns light up the palace outside. Ministers, Taoists and physicians all wanted to court favor with him. Local celebrities and administrators all came to visit him, some even tried to perform live sacrifice to extend his life.
* “This is power, status!” Grand Tutor laughs and dismisses everyone. His sons want to stay, “Father, is it…” Grand Tutor says, “It’s fate… No! Even more destined than fate… I, won’t last the night!”
* Midnight. Alone in bed, Grand Tutor looks over at the map of Central Plain on the wall and says, “Back then I followed His Majesty in all of his conquests. Who knew… the world would fall into my hands. It’s timing, and fate!”
* A gloomy voice came out of the dark, “Pity! You won’t live to enjoy it…”
* The candle lights on the walls flare, and all of a sudden the room is lit up by the fire. The map starts to burn, bit by bit. Grand Tutor says, “Every bit of it represents a battle I fought in. My life as a map of war.”
* The fire burns ever brighter, forging a skull out of the map, and then a figure forms. Covered in black, weirdly shaped, it stands at the head of the bed.
* “You’re here!” “I’m here!” They exchanged a question and answer.
* “Not even death could stop you from carrying out a mission…” Grand Tutor says. The black-cloaked figure says, “My lord’s command cannot be disregarded. Not to mention…”
* Grand Tutor grins, “My words coming back to kill me in the end…” “It’s time. Let us give our legend a perfect ending.”
* Grand Tutor disrobes while the black-cloaked figure pulls down its covering, revealing a skeleton that’s pierced by blades all over. The skeleton falls atop of Grand Tutor, piercing his fragile body…
* “Ah!” Sima Yi shots up in bed, sweating, and caresses his chest. He lets out a chuckle, “A nightmare and omen! Zhao Huo, I always end up having a nightmare whenever you complete a mission. ‘The spark that will light up the plains.’ Scary! Scary! Ha!”
* Amused, he sits up and let servants tend to his looks.
* There are a group of concerned generals and officials in the hall waiting to report news about the war to this young man, who responds in an orderly fashion, until someone mentions Xu Lin… “If we let that ideas man return to Dong Zhuo, he and Lü Bu’s fearsomeness will worsen the battle. Bo Da would be in danger!” Sima Yi’s third uncle says.
* A puppy climbs over to Sima Yi, who says, “Xu Lin, won’t last the night!” Everyone is aghast. “Did you dream of that again…”
* Sima Yi pets the puppy, smiles, just like how the Grand Tutor held onto the emperor in his dream…
(end of chapter one)